Blake Clark

Y'all know just as well as me that most times when someone has a bad experience they are quite eager to let everyone know, but the good experiences often go unnoticed.

Here is my story and my experience with the folks at Patterson Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Marshall, TX.

I pulled up Friday afternoon to my room in Marshall just in time for my mega to start hemorrhaging coolant. First thought, yup, popped the HG. Quick look under the hood, water pump laid down on me.

Great.

I had seen Patterson a couple of times before, as I have been in town for a few weeks now and figured Id see what would happen as far as getting the pump swapped out. As most of you know, my truck aint quite stock anymore.

Pulled up at the service department and was greeted by Ms. Patty Taylor the service manager. I gave her a quick rundown on what the trouble was and she got right on it. I did tell her that I didn't want any new flashes on my truck, and she let me know with a mischievous grin that she knew why....

They ran it to the back and confirmed a DOA water pump. They didn't have one in stock, but, instead of sending me off with a limping truck or a crappy rental, found one at a neighboring dealership and immediately ran off to scoop it up.

Now, I was fully prepared to swap the pump myself if I had to cause I honestly thought Id have caught some flak about warranty and such, or at the very least go round and round til I got them to use the extended warranty I have, which carries a 100 dollar deductible too. Well a quick conversation with Ms Taylor and she told me that the pump would be warrantied, and covered by the Cummins warranty, no cost to me. This alone was quite impressive, as they could have given me a lot of run around and tried to peg me with the bill.

Now, I'm typing this whole spiel not just to make light of the fact that I got a part warrantied on a modded vehicle. I'm letting everyone know just what kind of service I received this morning. The staff at Patterson was hands down, one of the friendliest, most good nature'd group as one could ever expect to meet. From the service staff to the parts staff to the tech who took the time to show me just how bad the bearing on the water pump failed, I couldn't have asked for a better dealership experience. If I wouldn't live so far from here, when it came time for a new vehicle, they would get my business. I just cant say enough about how pleased I am and just how nice everyone was. If their service department was this great, I can only imagine how good the sales department must be.

Anyone who lives in the area, or is just passing through, stop and give them a look. Their service is second to none and their level of customer service is above and beyond the norm. Im not telling yall to run in there with modded vehicles that were trashed or abused and expect a warranty job, its just that these folks have common sense and will work with you if you have legitimate issues.

Patterson does have a nice selection of trucks on the lot too, both halfs and heavy dutys. They even had a 3500 Dually with a G56, which I did drive and was very impressed with.

So, I just want to give a big Thank You to the staff at Patterson Dodge, yall make me remember that there are still honest folks out there who do want to help someone.

tryNto

Glad to hear something like this...

Shorts

Good to hear!

TonyB

Glad to hear about a positive dealer experience! It seems to be rarer and rarer these days.

Tony

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Wish I could have words like that about our experience getting tires for our teenage son's car. We went to where we normally go to get tires, and got prices there. Then shopped around a bit and decided to go back to where we usually do and get them as planned. They didn't stock his factory size so I picked one close enuff to fit and be just fine. Heck, it's a kids car. We don't need to order a $2000 set of tires for it. We then decided just to pay and leave the car and let him pick it up later. We eneded up doing several hours of other running around so we went back to check on it. Apparently the guy took our statement about our son picking it up as "keep it constantly on the bottom of the list and wait till minutes before closing time to get to it" When we stopped back by, I ran in he told me there were a whole bunch in front of it. We sat outside, as we watched 1 person work, the guy I talked to standing in an unused bay texting someone the entire 20 minutes, and two other guys playing tag or something in another bay. I finally went back in. The guy came back to the counter, I asked him about why we were bumped down so far and he just said well that's the way it is. Then all the other guys came in and said were going to lunch and walked out the door. We contacted our son, told him it'll be awhile, so don't come get it yet. We went home and took a 2 and a half hour nap, came back and it still hadn't been touched. Apparently, the single guy actually doing something decided that since the "computer" said this wasn't the right tire, then it will never fit. I had to put a whole lot of try into not old fashioned knocking someone out on this one. So the idiot at the counter just started repeating "so..what do you want me to do" over and over. I finally said look buddy here's what your going to do. Your going to refund every cent I've paid and watch me walk out of here and take it to someone who wants to put tires on a car today. There must have been a dozen people standing there wondering when their cars were going to be done too. They also got to watch us chew a manager for the worst service this store has ever done in the 20 plus years we've been going there. We left and had another shop put the exact same tires I asked for on it. It took 30 minutes, they fit perfect and we drove it home.

NavyDood

It's always great to hear about a good dealer experience.

My truck is an 04 with 138,000 miles on her. My water pump went south on Thur 20 miles from home. I was sitting at a stop light and heard a noise like water hitting the fan. Rolled the window down and could hear a grrr/wobbley/metally noise and smelled anti-freeze. Immediately knew it was the water pump. Said a few "choice" words and drove it on home. Popped the hood when I got to the 5vr and could see the water pump pully moving in and out about 1/8"-1/4" and wobbling a tad. Had a friend drive me to Advanced Auto. $46 later I was out the door with a brand new (not reman) water pump. Last fall I had already bought a new thermostat, fan belt, and 4gal of HOAT. I changed everything out Fri morning. 2.5 hours later I was done changing everything out. Time was not an issue for me though.

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It seems too that "training" these days is a guy watches a video, or at least signs off on watching a video, and he's trained. It's getting harder and harder to find someone that knows what and how they are doing it, or heck, even cares about what they are doing anymore or cares about anything.

Blake Clark

123

Its so aggrevating to have someone treat you like that when you are spending your hard earned money. Personally, I wont put up with it. Period.

ND,

I had done my homework and was prepared to swap the pump myself. Autozone didnt have a 6.7 pump, but, the 5.9 pump will work. I just figured Id drive up at the dealership and see what happens, and well, I found a great dealership.

Hodge

Bad news can be found anywhere we look. It is refreshing to hear a good news story once in a while!

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That's why we stopped watching the news at least a year ago. There's usually a heavy set guy in shorts working there. he's always on the go and seems to be the one keeping everyone else on track. He wasn't there yesterday so all the punks that were working there just for a job were left free to play as they pleased. I get the feeling that there were some more mad customers that took a a bite of mgr hind end after we got ours.

NavyDood

Totally understandable. What kills me is Dodge wants $200+ for the water pump.